September 28, 2012

What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012)

I recently attended the world premiere of the opera, Nixon in China. If your first thought was, 'who the hell would make an opera out of that,' then you would be smarter than me, my friend. To say it was horrible would be an understatement. Some subjects were just not meant to be adapted for the fine arts.

The classic book, What to Expect When You're Expecting, falls into that same category. For anyone who hasn't read the book, it's a 616 page tome of information with extensive Q&A's, answering pretty much any pregnancy question a reader could have. Why someone thought this would transition easily to a movie script is beyond me. It's a bit like making a movie out of a health brochure you'd pick up at your doctor's office. The scenes jump from story to story, trying to cover all the main themes of the book from conception to delivery. (Which, by the way, I will never understand why movies portray every woman as a sweaty, screaming banshee who curses out her husband while giving birth. I mean, for a movie on the most popular and informative pregnancy book out there, they sure play into some stereotypes.)

I remember reading a critique of the movie that pointed out the fact that the movie stars no women of color. First of all, last time I checked, Jennifer Lopez is not white. But I understand the point and do agree there is a conspicuous lack of other ethnic characters in the movie. Throwing Chris Rock into random scenes doesn't suddenly make the movie more realistic of America's demographics.

Speaking of Chris Rock... I'm convinced someone saw the trailer for this movie, heard the two funny jokes he makes, and decided that new show Guys With Kids would be a good idea. (If you thought I was being hard on playing into stereotypes earlier...)

Ugh, and this chick!! Why is she suddenly in everything? Sure, she was mildly funny in Bridesmaids, but does that mean every single movie now needs a fat sidekick who makes inappropriate sexual jokes? It's not that I care that she's fat - I care that every movie makes her being fat as part of the joke. Didn't Hollywood learn anything from the travesty that was Shallow Hal? Something isn't funny just because people are fat! (Side note: does any movie coming out right now look lamer than that singing movie, Pitch Perfect, she's in?? [In which she plays the zany fat girl. Again.] But really? Rebel singers? That's almost as ill-conceived as that "action" movie with bike messengers!!)

The bright spots in the movie? A few, actually. First, and most importantly, was the inclusion of this guy, who the world has been waiting to see more of since he stripped down to his underwear in Love Actually. (He may have actually gotten partially naked in Post Grad, but I really tried to block out any memory of watching that movie.) And surprisingly, I enjoyed Brooklyn Decker's appearance as the young, pregnant trophy wife. She may just pull a Justin Timberlake here and defy the odds to star in real movies (whether or not said movies are of decent quality is another matter).

Final word: Not every single moment of the movie sucks, but that would probably make it more entertaining and noteworthy than it is in its current state.

1 comment:

no one claimed it was going to be oscar worthy, but it had funny parts and isn't that the point of this movie? too harsh. Fine, you want a real recommendation? Flowers of War. Watched it last night. Amazing. Totally different genre obvi.